News

Board proposes Syd Thrift Athletic Complex agreement

by Larry Chowning

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday, June 4, to have a “memorandum of understanding” drafted between the board and Friends of Middlesex County Public Schools Inc., a citizens group that has long supported the complex.

The agreement will state that the board of supervisors has received bids of approximately $3.325 million in order to build the Syd Thrift Athletic Complex at Middlesex High School. In order to award any contracts for design and construction of the project, the board must have the funds available.

Supervisors are now requesting that the Friends show proof of its privately-raised funds by establishing a line of credit in the name of Middlesex County in the amount of $600,000, which would be guaranteed by the Friends.

The Friends must maintain the line of credit in the name of the county in that amount during the length of the project or until the county has received the amount from the Friends in a form of direct contributions or withdrawals from the line of credit, states the proposed agreement.

“The $600,000 commitment by the Friends is a contribution to the project and in no way is to be construed as a loan or indebtedness of the county or the board,” states the proposed agreement.

At a school board meeting on Monday, June 10, Dr. Thomas Taylor said a contract to begin construction of the Syd Thrift Athletic Complex will probably be finalized Wednesday, June 12, for a Richmond firm to do the work.

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